MANIFESTO

"Manifesto" is the sixth studio album of Roxy Music and that was released in 1979. "Manifesto" follows an almost four years of a recording hiatus. Roxy Music regrouped for this new studio album. This is their first album since their previous studio album "Siren". "Manifesto" initiates the third musical phase of Roxy Music. It's the most unusual album of this phase. You might already be expecting the precious pop, which Roxy Music has been remembered by many. But surprise. "Manifesto" is for a good part of it free. Rather, "Manifesto" is virtually the new wave album from the band.

The art cover design which featured a variety of mannequins was created by Bryan Ferry with the fashion designer Antony Price and the American TV actress Hilary Thompson, amongst others. It was inspired by the first edition of the Wyndham Lewis's literary magazine, "Blast". "Manifesto" has a new line up because their keyboardist Eddie Jobson and their bassist John Gustafson were no longer present on it, because they had already left the group. So, the line up of this album is Bryan Ferry (vocals and keyboards), Andy MacKay (oboe and saxophone), Phil Manzanera (electric guitar), Paul Thompson (drums), Paul Carrack (keyboards), Alan Spenner (bass) and Gary Tibbs (bass).

"Manifesto" has ten tracks. The first track, who gives its name to the album, "Manifesto" written by Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera, is probably the highest point of the album. This is a song where we can still see clearly the influences of the art rock. It's a great song with a fantastic bass line, great keyboards, good guitar work and also, as usual, a good vocal performance by Bryan Ferry. The second track "Trash" written by Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera is the first song of the album which was chosen to be released as a single. It's a very short song and very different from the previous and has no more influence of art rock. It's only a simple song with a pop tune, very well played but nothing else. The third track "Angel Eyes" written by Bryan Ferry and Andy MacKay is the third song of the album which was chosen to be released as a single and was also the first song made for a music video to Roxy Music's album. It's another very pop oriented song featuring a rock style. It's better than the previous song, also very well played but it's a very normal and simple song. The fourth track "Still Falls The Rain" written by Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera is a very nice song with some funky influences. It's probably the most beautiful song of the album, very simple and with some great musical moments. The fifth track "Stronger Through The Years" written by Bryan Ferry is another great moment of this album. This is, in my opinion, the second best song of the album with great individual performances of all musicians. It's a very hypnotic song also with influences of art rock and where we can also feel clearly the influences of the new wave. The song reminds me strongly the music of Japan. The sixth track "Ain't That So" written by Bryan Ferry is a song with a mix of pop, disco and avant-garde music. It's an interesting music with a nice and catchy tune, very well played and that was made to be danced. The seventh track "My Little Girl" written by Bryan Ferry and Phil Manzanera was the B side song for their single "Angel Eyes". It's a melodic pop/disco song, very simple, that reminds me the popular music of the American pianist and composer Burt Bacharach. Sincerely, this is, in my opinion, one of the weakest songs of the album. The eighth track "Dance Away" written by Bryan Ferry was the second song to be taken from the album to be released as a single and became one of the band's famous commercial songs and also the best selling single of this album. Despite it has nothing to do with the prog music, it has good and simple lyrics, a fantastic melody and a great dancing rhythm. I always loved this song and "Dance Away" is, for me, one of the great pop songs ever written and consequently another great moment of the album. The ninth track "Cry, Cry, Cry" written by Bryan Ferry is the opposite and represents one of the worst moments of the album. It's an uninspired song, repetitive, monotonous and completely dispensable. It's the second weakest song of the album but fortunately it's also the second shortest of the album too. The tenth and last track "Spin Me Round" written by Bryan Ferry isn't, in my opinion, as bad as some of you consider. It's a very simple, melodic, calm and enjoyable song. We even can say that it finishes perfectly well this album, really.

Conclusion: Returning to action after almost four years of solo projects, Roxy Music redefined their sound and strips away, and once for all, of their experimentalism and the art rock influences in favour of short concise pop songs with some kind of stylish disco rhythms, while retaining in the generality a good and consistent song writing, which are good examples "Manifesto", "Stronger Through The Years" and "Dance Away". However, I've no doubt in saying that "Manifesto" is the weakest studio album of the band. "Manifesto" is a transition album from the art rock to pop. As any transition album, and despite a number of wonderful musical moments on the album, it isn't entirely satisfactory due to the lack of balance between these two different musical proposals. The final result is a not very well balanced album with two types of musical influences with some inconsistency. This isn't the type of music that we expected from them.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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